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Motivation Essay

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Describe, compare and contrast one process and one content theory of motivation. Evaluate how appropriate they are for organisations today. Motivation is the desire or willingness of someone to do something. Craig C. Pinder (1998) defined work motivation as a “set of internal and external forces that initiate work related behaviour and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration.” Motivation plays an important role in a business environment, as employee motivation is believed to improved work performance. Discussed in this essay are two types of motivation theories; Content theory which tries to identify specific needs that motivate people and Process theories which is based on developing models relating needs, motives and …show more content…

Similarly, evidence from research highlight that there are negative ways in which workers can redress inequality; As seen in Organizational behaviour and Work, Wilson, Fiona M, (2010), it highlights the ways in which individuals act negatively towards inequity “underpayment leads to lowered job performance (Prichard et al., 1972; Lord and Hohenfeld, 1979). Another form of reaction to underpayment is disruptive, deviant behaviour, such as vandalism and theft (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). Theft might be seen as a means to replenish feelings of underpayment inequity. The Hawthrone Studies conducted by Elton Mayo between 1924 and 1932, showed that employees are not just motivated by the money, “outcomes,” but their attitudes, “needs” as well. Initiating the human relations approach to management and the needs and motivation of employees was the primary concentre of managers. In short, both Maslow and Adams theories can be considered Equity theories of motivation. In some way, Equity Theory may seem more relatable to organisations today globally, as equity is part of the human rights laws, as compared to Maslow’s theory. Maslow’s theory is unmasked as ethnocentric by Geert Hofstede (1984), he stated, there are ‘cultural limitations’ in the

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